His mom, who was wearing an Alabama hoodie and Tennessee hat, walked off seconds after Copeland picked the Florida hat.

But mom came back after a few minutes to support her son's decision and hugged him.

Copeland said his mom encouraged him to choose Alabama, but his heart ultimately told him Florida was the way to go and felt he would have a bigger impact with the Gators.

"We had a lot of conversations back and forth about where I should go to school at, but it was like God led me," Copeland said.

Copeland was overcome with emotion when trying to address the crowd. His upbringing, his road to this point, was playing in his mind. Afterward, he talked about how rough his neighborhood was including shootouts and drug deals. He felt without some people helping him get on the right track he would have ended up dead or in jail.